Linda Castillo Books in Order
Linda Castillo is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Kate Burkholder series set in Ohio’s Amish country. The series, which has become the author’s main work, follow a formerly Amish police chief who is working both in and out of the small community which often hides secrets in order to protect its residents, traditions, but also killers. The books have sold over four million copies worldwide, and they have been translated into fourteen languages. In 2024, Linda Castillo won two Edgar Awards: Best Short Story for Hallowed Ground and the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award for An Evil Heart.
This page lists all Linda Castillo books in order, including the Kate Burkholder novels, Kate Burkholder short stories and collections, her earlier romantic suspense series, series contributions, and standalone novels.
Latest Linda Castillo Books
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Where to Start with Linda Castillo
→ New to Linda Castillo? Start with Sworn to Silence. It introduces Kate Burkholder, Painters Mill, her Amish background, and the books in the crime-fiction genre.
→ Already watched the movie An Amish Murder? Start with Sworn to Silence too. The Lifetime movie was based on the first Kate Burkholder book, but the novels continue Kate’s story much further.
→ Prefer shorter reads first? Try the Kate Burkholder short-story collections, but they work better once you already know Kate, John Tomasetti, and Painters Mill.
Kate Burkholder Series (Books in Order)
The Kate Burkholder series follows former Amish chief of police Kate Burkholder, who returns to Painters Mill, a small Ohio town where she once grew up. Here, the Amish and English communities have lived side by side peacefully for generations, at least on the surface. Because Kate was raised Amish and she only left as a young woman, she understands the language, family ties, and local customs investigators can easily misread or are not aware of.
Kate can move between both worlds, but she’s not comfortable in either and feels out of place in both worlds. The cases she investigates often involve crimes happening around the Amish community, and the background arc that is present in the whole series follows Kate’s work with state agent John Tomasetti, and their personal history.
- Sworn to Silence, 2009
- Pray for Silence, 2010
- Breaking Silence, 2011
- Gone Missing, 2011
- Long Lost, 2013
- Her Last Breath, 2013
- The Dead Will Tell, 2014
- A Hidden Secret, 2015
- After the Storm, 2015
- Seeds of Deception, 2016
- Among the Wicked, 2016
- Only the Lucky, 2017
- Down a Dark Road, 2017
- In Dark Company, 2018
- A Gathering of Secrets, 2018
- In Plain Sight, 2019
- Shamed, 2019
- The Pact, 2020
- Outsider, 2020
- Disappeared, 2021
- Fallen, 2021
- Blood Moon, 2022
- The Hidden One, 2022
- Hallowed Ground, 2023
- An Evil Heart, 2023
- Dark Storm Rising, 2024
- The Burning, 2024
- Rage, 2025
Kate Burkholder Short Collections
The Kate Burkholder short collections gather shorter cases from the same Painters Mill world. Many of these stories were first published as digital singles between the novels, so they belong with the main Kate Burkholder reading order. A Dark Path brings several of the later Kate short stories into print together, including one new story.
- Kate Burkholder: Three Novellas, 2016
- A Simple Murder, 2021
- A Dark Path, 2026
High Country Heroes Series (Books in Order)
The High Country Heroes series is an early Harlequin Intrigue romantic suspense trilogy set around the Colorado Rockies. Each book brings together a hero with a dangerous job and a woman he has to protect or work together with. These books belong to the author’s category-romance early years, before Kate Burkholder was created.
- A Hero to Hold, 2001
- Just A Little Bit Dangerous, 2002
- A Cry In The Night, 2002
Operation: Midnight Series (Books in Order)
The Operation: Midnight series is a five-book Harlequin Intrigue romantic suspense series following agents of MIDNIGHT, a fictional covert federal unit. Each book features a different protagonist who is either a deep-cover operative, a former bodyguard, or a cowboy, in dangerous missions with a romantic subplot.
- Operation: Midnight Tango, 2005
- Operation: Midnight Escape, 2005
- Operation: Midnight Guardian, 2006
- Operation: Midnight Rendezvous, 2006
- Operation: Midnight Cowboy, 2007
Series Contributed To
- Remember the Night, 2000 (Expectantly Yours series)
- Uncharted Waters, 2003 (Family Secrets series)
- The Phoenix Encounter / The Secret Encounter, 2003 (Family Secrets series)
- Operation: Midnight Tango, 2005 (Safe Haven series)
- A Baby Before Dawn / Safe Before Dawn, 2007 (Lights Out series)
Standalone Novels
- Lay Down the Law (also titled Cops and … Lovers?), 2001
- The Perfect Victim, 2002
- Midnight Run, 2003
- The Shadow Side, 2003
- Fade to Red, 2004
- Dead Reckoning, 2005
- Depth Perception, 2005
- A Whisper in the Dark, 2006
- In the Dead of the Night, 2007
- Overkill, 2007
Short Story Anthologies
Linda Castillo Biography
Linda Castillo is an American crime fiction and romantic suspense author best known for the Kate Burkholder series, set in Ohio’s Amish country. So far, she has published close to 20 Kate Burkholder novels since the debut in 2009.
Official website: lindacastillo.com
Linda Castillo was born in 1960 and was raised in a small farming community in Western Ohio, which is also the setting for her Kate Burkholder series. She already knew as a child that she wanted to write books She wrote her first story at the age of thirteen.
Initially, she wrote romance and romantic suspense novels, with the High Country Heroes trilogy and the Operation: Midnight series being published by Harlequin Intrigue, and early standalone novels by Berkley Sensation. During these early years of writing romances and romantic suspense, she won the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, the Holt Medallion, and a RITA nomination.
In 2009, she began writing crime mystery with Sworn to Silence, the first Kate Burkholder novel, which introduced Kate, a former Amish chief of police in Painters Mills, Ohio. The book became immediately popular after publication. Eventually, it also became one of the most reliable police procedural series in American crime fiction, which was often listed on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Currently the series has close to twenty novels and several shorter Kate Burkholder stories, all about Kate’s police work, her Amish past, and her relationship with state agent John Tomasetti.
Linda Castillo’s books have sold over four million copies around the world, and they have been translated into fourteen languages. At the 2024 Edgar Awards, she won both Best Short Story for Hallowed Ground and the Sue Grafton Memorial Award for An Evil Heart. She currently lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, whom she met in 1985.
Linda Castillo Book Adaptations
- Sworn to Silence – adapted into the Lifetime television movie An Amish Murder (2013)
Linda Castillo Awards and Honors
Awards
- Lay Down the Law – Holt Medallion (2002)
- Overkill – Holt Medallion (2007)
- Breaking Silence – Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence (2011)
- Hallowed Ground – Edgar Award for Best Short Story (2024)
- An Evil Heart – The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award (2024)
Nominations and Shortlists
- Remember the Night – RITA Award (2000)
- Her Last Breath – ITW / International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel (2014)
- Shamed – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award (2020)
- Rage – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award (2026)
I am so hooked on the Kate Burkholder books! I picked one up by chance at the library. I’m not getting them in order but I don’t care! They are so gripping I have a hard time putting them down!
I await the Kate Burkholder Books. Love them. I told our librarian, “if you ever meet L.C. , tell her to write faster,” jokingly of course. The only problem is, I finish her books in 2 days. I love her.
I love the Kate Burkholder series. Keeps you in suspense the whole time. And I love reading about the Amish
culture. Thank you for writing these books.
i love the series of Kate Burkholder, my first book I bought by accident the hidden one at the time I didn’t know it was a series so now I’m going to go buy the first one and read on from there in order I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. I think she’s becoming one of my favorite authors
I love the Kate B. Series. I am like the others, more, more, more. I am on the last 3 to go I download them from my local library. Right now I am on hold. Everyone here apparently loves them too.
Enjoying the Kate Burkholter series. By chance I bought Shamed not realizing it was a part of a series. Therefore, I have not read the books in the order of chronology. Enjoyed each one except the one where underground tunnels were involved.
I am now aware Of more her books..my question is does Linda do all of the writing herself? It seems like an impossible task. Excellent writer.
Love the KB series!
Totally addicted to Castillo’s riveting Katie Burkholder
Series and my partner and I can hardly wait for the next !!
Beautifully written, each work is unique. We read them until the wee hours of the morning . Hard to read anything else once you are hooked!!!
Love Love The Amish series books. My favorite Author.
This is written to Rose Marie’s question. You mentioned you don’t have a kindle and would like to hear A Hidden Secret. I don’t have a kindle but I have the kindle app on my iPhone. I am able to get the books on my kindle app without having a kindle maybe you could use that. The novellas are a fun addition to her series.